Thursday, December 24, 2009

Christmas Eve: and a dose of perspective

Wow, I can hardly believe we're on the verge of spending out first Christmas away from home; away from any and everything we've ever known including our friends and family. Actually that's not completely true, the few people we have gotten to know here have been such a blessing to us in so many ways and they probably don't even know it. We are sooo grateful to have found friends and for a boss who truly has a kind heart.

These evening we (Ben, Ian, Casey, and I) are going to be watching Elf to try and get this holiday started off on the right foot. Nobody does it better then Buddy the Elf! Yea, this morning was very bittersweet for me and Ben a little too, but definitely more so for me. I woke up and all Ben said was, "It's Christmas Eve!!!" and I burst into tears. I didn't think such a joyous occasion could bring me to tears, but it did. It was the emotion of it all, the realization that WE are the ones missing this year. I was used to not having all my family together under one roof at one time or another but this was very different, it's me thats not home. It all took me by surprise this morning when I started thinking about how we are missing family gatherings, the food, the fun, the memories. It was overwhelming.

It was then that my dearest Benjamin decided that we needed to do something... we needed a little retail therapy. We were hoping and wishing anything from home would arrive in time but understandably nothing made it. So Ben scurried me out of bed and headed to E-Mart. We agreed to fill each others stockings so we'd have a little something to open on Christmas morning and hopefully give us a little something to look forward too. Ben also picked up a tree we'd been eying. I hesitate to call it a Christmas tree but it is serving that purpose at the moment. It's basically a large black stem with lots of twigs coming off it but the really kool part is that it has those fabulous blue sparkely LED lights all over the branches. It just glows and its sooo pretty! We were just dying to find some Christmas lights and there were none to be found in time. We saw this tree yesterday when we made our first venture to the new E-Mart. Today it was on sale and was begging to be brought home with us so we gave in... our homemade tree was just not getting the job done. Check out these pics...

The homemade one. Yes, this "tree" was made of red and green balloons and a trunk of paper I colored brown and taped to the wall. It needed and upgrade for sure.


The upgrade...


A few more fun pics as it evolved into evening, the lights look better when it's dark out. I couldn't fit all of Ben's stocking stuffers in his stocking so I tucked them under the tree. I wrapped them with some white paper and stickers.





I love the glow it casts on everything, its not bright but its evokes a nice mood.



Here are the paper things I made, there were not as many as I had hoped but it still added to our Christmas decor.





I even made a paper chain (like we all did in kindergarten) to countdown until Christmas, then New Years.



I cut up an egg carton and re-named it a votive holder. Egg cartons have made several useful containers for me including a jewelry holder and change separator.



Luke 2:9-11
And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. 10And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.


With all that said we'll say Merry Christmas and good night. We wish you a wonderful day filled with warmth, family, friends, food, and fun. And don't forget to read THE Christmas story, thats what this is all REALLY about anyway.

Love you all and missing you all soooo much!

1 comment:

Kurt said...

Mery Christmas from all of us Dad, Mom, Joshua, Matthew, and even Zoe